Caves and Other Underground Labyrinths
by PlumaLibera
Summary: This is another one of those 'Legolas tells the Fellowship about meeting Estel' deals, but with a twist, involving, you guessed it caves.
1. Caves Present

**Well, here again, is another random oneshot! I've seen soooo many stories like this out there that I just had to put my blot bunny on paper. The Summary says it all I guess, so, enjoy!**

**Blue **

Elvish words and phrases to know:

Ada- Dad

Mithrandir- Gandalf's elvish name. (It means "gray pilgrim" or "gray wanderer")

Thranduilion – son of Thranduil

Nae, gerich naegron nin – alas, you have my expression of deepest regret

Adan – human

Estel – Aragorn's elvish name, given to him by his foster father Elrond (It means "hope")

Tithen pen – little one

Dúnadain – what the elves call the Rangers, and any with the blood of the Westernesses

Suilad - hello

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It was raining heavily by the time Gandalf found a place for them to rest for the night. It had been drizzling all day and by sunset it was pouring, so, needless to say everyone had low spirits, and _very_ wet clothes. Subsequently, everyone in the company was ecstatic to learn that they would be spending the night in a nice, dry, sheltered, cave. Every member of the Fellowship, but one.

"A _cave_ Mithrandir?" Legolas intoned doubtfully.

"Yes Thranduilion, a _cave_." Gandalf testily, daring the elf to protest. Gandalf waited, and when no protest was forth coming, he proceeded into said cave.

"A cave, of all things, it had to be a cave!" Legolas muttered to himself, as he went off into the rain in search of dry firewood.

OoOoO

Pippin sat on the floor of the cave, watching the activity around him. Gimli was tapping the cave walls and muttering about "Fault lines" and "bedrock", Sam was lighting a small fire with the log and kindling that Legolas had somehow managed to procure, whilst Frodo and Merry set out bedrolls. Boromir was sharpening his sword, Aragorn and Gandalf were discussing something (in elvish, unfortunately for Pipin) and Legolas was …… well, not there.

"Strider?"

Aragorn turned. "Yes, Pippin?"

"Where's Legolas?"

"He's out there, in a tree, most likely"

"In the rain?" Pippin asked incredulously. "Won't he catch cold?"

Aragorn smiled. "Elves are not like you and I, Pippin. They can't get sick, and the cold does not affect them as much."

Aragorn turned around again, to continue discussing their route with the wizard.

"Strider?"

"Yes Pippin?" Aragorn, resigning himself to a long interrogation about elves, threw Gandalf an apologetic glance, and sat down by Pippin.

"Do elves feel the rain?"

"Yes Pippin, elves feel the rain. Even though Legolas isn't cold, he is very wet."

"Then why isn't he in here by the fire?" Pippin was confused. "It seems the sensible thing to do."

"Legolas doesn't like caves, or any dark, enclosed spaces."

"Oh."

Aragorn prepared to get up.

"Strider?"

"Yes, Pippin?'

"Do you think he'll come in for dinner?"

"He may. I really cannot guess. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's his turn to tell a story tonight."

Over the course of the trip, the members of the fellowship had taken to telling tales when they set up camp, before they went to sleep, to help allay the boredom and anxiety that the journey entailed (this practice was started mostly for the benefit of the hobbits more than anyone). Over the duration of he journey, Aragorn, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Frodo, Boromir, and even Sam each had shared a story.

"Do you think he knows that it's his turn?"

"Probably not."

"Would you mind telling him?"

Aragorn was loath to say yes, as the Prince of Mirkwood probably didn't want to come in the cave in the first place, and certainly didn't want to be the center of attention while he was in said cave, and so would probably retaliate by telling an embarrassing story about Aragorn. Unfortunately (for Aragorn) there were many to choose from. Pippin, somehow sensing the answer that he was going to get, pulled off the most spectacular pair of puppy dog eyes that Aragorn had ever seen, and now he was loath to say no.

Just when Pippin's eyes started to get larger (if such a thing were even possible at that point) Aragorn decided he couldn't take it anymore.

"Very well Pippin" Aragorn sighed. "I shall ask him to tell a story for you."

"Thanks!" Pippin replied with enthusiasm, skittering off to tell Merry the good news.

OoOoO

Legolas did not, in fact, join the fellowship for dinner, so Gandalf gave Aragorn the task of going out into the rain and dragging the Prince of Mirkwood in to eat.

Aragorn squinted through the rain, trying to see exactly _which_ tree his friend was in. Finally, he was able to make out a flash of golden hair, and quickly made his way over to it, intent on getting out of the downpour as soon as possible. He stood at the base of the tree, not daring to look up lest his eye sockets fill with any more water.

"Legolas!" Aragorn shouted up at the tree. "Mithrandir sent me to get you. Dinner is ready!"

"I know that. Master Samwise shouted loud enough so that even the Haradrim know that 'Soup's on Mister Legolas Sir!'" Replied the tree petulantly. "I am _not _going in that cave, Estel."

"Do I have to come up there and drag you down like the elfling you are?"

The tree snorted. "You vastly overestimate your abilities, Adan."

"Very well then!" Aragorn retorted and moved closer to the tree reaching out for a branch to hoist himself up with. There wasn't one. The wood-elf, anticipating Aragorn's, and on a higher level Gandalf's, actions, had chosen a tree that had no branches what-so ever until about six feet up the trunk.

There was nothing for it, Aragorn decided, but to jump. And jump he did. Three times. On the third, he managed to grasp a limb, and retain his grip. Now he had to get his feet where his hands were. Aragorn lifted his legs and placed the soles of is feet on the trunk, with the intention of shimming up the trunk. The trunk that was now slick with rain. His feet slipped and he lost all footing. The jerk that was caused by this also caused him to let go of the branch, and with an 'oomph' he fell into the waiting mud below.

The tree laughed.

"Yes, go ahead and laugh" Aragorn muttered darkly, intent on bodily harm. He prepared to jump again, his boots squelching in the mud. The mud! Seized by a sudden inspiration, Aragorn bent down, scooped up a clod of mud, and promptly threw it into the tree, where it hit home with a satisfying, 'smack'.

"You threw mud at me!" The tree cried indignantly, almost disbelievingly.

"Nae, gerich naegron nin" Aragorn said in monotone, not sounding the least bit contrite. "Now will you come down?! I am hungry, and the hobbits will eat all the food 'ere we get back lest we hurry!"

"The Adan is hungry, what a surprise." The tree muttered under its breath, but nonetheless, seconds later, Legolas dropped down, landing gracefully to Aragorn's left.

"You look like a bedraggled cat, Mellon nin" Aragorn said wryly. "A very muddy, bedraggled, cat."

" I would not talk, were I you, Estel." Legolas replied.

They walked in a comfortable silence for a while.

"You know, it is your turn to tell a tale to the fellowship tonight"

There was a splash, and a certain ranger got quite a bit muddier.

OoOoO

Back in the cave, the hobbits were getting quite worried, and were trying to persuade Gandalf to send someone out after the pair.

"Fear not young hobbits." Gandalf placated. "That silvan fool is likely just being stubborn, and the pair have faced worse things together that a bit of rain."

"What do you mean worst things _together? _" Merry asked.

"They've known each other for quite awhile." Gandalf said around his pipe stem. "And have, unfortunately, much to the dismay of the lords Elrond and Thranduil, been getting each other into perilous situations longer that you've been alive."

Sam was about to ask what Lord Elrond had to do with Mr. Strider and Mr. Legolas' shenanigans, when he was interrupted by the entrance of the two.

"_I _do not get the _Dúnadan_ into trouble Mithrandir." Legolas said whilst wringing the water out of his long, blond hair. "It is in quite the reverse. I have faced more, wargs, orcs, spiders, uruk-kai, wolves, earthquakes, kidnappings, assassination attempts, trolls, mudslides, enslavements, cliff edges, waterfalls, snow storms, rainstorms, any other natural disasters not previously mentioned, poisonings, stab wounds, fast moving rivers with dangerously strong currents, broken bones, and horse thefts in the last 85 years than in all my life before then. And caves. I have been in enough _caves_," he spat out the last word "to last a life-time."

"I should have taken our first meeting as a sign of things to come." He added under his breath.

"What happened?" Pippin asked eagerly.

"Very well" said Legolas, smiling slightly. "Seeing as how it is my turn to tell a tale tonight, I shall tell you of the very first time I met Estel."

"It was in early spring that my father sent me to Imladris with a message. I was almost to the Bruinen when I managed to run into some orcs and..:"

At his point the story was interrupted by a snort from Aragorn. "You say _managed _as though it is hard for you to do. Legolas always 'manages' to have a 'small encounter' with some orcs, or wargs, or any other potentially harmful creature in which he gets 'just a scratch' that's 'not all that bad really'." Aragorn clarified for the others. "And he claims _I _am the reason for his constant state of injury."

Legolas cleared his throat pointedly, glared at Aragorn, and continued.

"And I had managed to lose my horse. Thinking to hide from the orcs, I entered what I thought was merely a small cave…….."

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**This Story has been brought to you by readers like you. Thank you. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the 1st chapter.**

**Chaoter 2: Legsie's story! Yay!**

**Sorry, have to ask: Review, anyone?**


	2. Caves Past

**Here we are with Legsie's story. Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer : Don't sue me. I don't own it. **

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'Small cave' apparently meant 'intricate labyrinth of tunnels that look exactly the same' in the Valar's minds, Legolas mused as he walked down a narrow passage that he could have sworn that he had walked down about fifty times before.

Meandering about boring, uniform places tends to make you ponder things, and form conclusions, and Legolas had come to some (not very surprising) realizations about the powers that be. The first was that they hated him, and the second was that they enjoyed tormenting him in order to gratify their own sadistic senses of humor.

Legolas soon came to a fork in the 'road' and was about to turn right when he suddenly stopped. Going left felt, wrong, somehow, and when Legolas went to continue on he was unable to shake the feeling that he was _meant_ to go right.

Telling himself that the effects of the underground were really starting to set in and he had to get out before he lost and _more_ of his sanity, Legolas embarked upon (what he hoped was) the right path.

He had traveled about half a league into the right tunnel, when he began to hear sniffling noises. He reached toward the quiver at his back, and cursed softly when his hand met air.

He didn't however, curse softly enough, for soon after a wavering voice, trying, and horribly failing to be brave, asked:

"Who there?"

'Elbereth!' Legolas thought in shock. 'It's a child. And a very young one too.' Apparently he wasn't the only one that the Valar detested enough to put in this Iluvatar-forsaken cave. 'Cave really isn't the right word though' came the absent minded thought, 'I did proclaim it to be rather more of a labyrinth.'

Shaking his head of the wayward musing, and at the same time deciding that he really needed some fresh air and sunlight, Legolas hurried forward around the bend.

He was right in his assuption that it was a child, and the tear track on the child's face explained the sniffling noises. The boy had dark curly hair, that when moved aside revealed rounded ears. Ah. So the boy was human.

Legolas stared at the child, and the child stared back. Finally, after a rather long time the boy broke the silence.

"Who you?"

Legolas smiled disarmingly. "I am Legolas of Mirkwood. And who are you tithen pen?"

"Swulad Le'las. I Estel." Estel replied.

Legolas chuckled. "Suilad, Estel."

"Lost. Le'las help out?" Estel asked hopefully.

"No. Forgive me, tithen pen, for I am just as lost as you are." Legolas replied. "I have a thought. Why don't you come with me, and we'll see If we can't find the way out."

The child took his hand and they went on together into the ever darkening tunnel.

"So Estel, where do you live?" Legolas asked, trying to piece together the mystery of where the boy had come from and why he was here, of all places.

"In biiiiiiiig house." Estel replied, spirits lifting at the thought of his home.

"Yes but where is the big house?" Legolas tried a different approach.

"Near fally-river."

"Near a water fall?"

Estel nodded.

"You live in Imladris?"

Another nod. And a smile.

"Who lives in the big house with you? Who is your family?"

"Ada, El'dan an' 'Ro-er, Glorfy, an' 'Restor."

"Ah. So your brothers are Elladan and Elrohir, and your father is Lord Elrond?"

"No." The child looked confused. "Ada Is Ada."

The child frowned suddenly and looked up at Legolas.

"Ada says no talk to strangers. You strange Le'las?"

Legolas smiled. "No Estel, I don't think I'm strange." Though there were many that would certainly disagree with that statement, Legolas conceded to himself.

"Okay." The boy agreed happily. He frowned suddenly again. "Ro-er calls me strange. You no talk me no more."

"I will certainly talk to you Estel! I expect your brother was just teasing you. _I_ do not think you are strange."

They continued on in silence for a while until Legolas' curiosity got the better of him.

"How in Elbereth's name did you get down here Estel." Legolas did not think that Elladan and Elrohir would be negligent enough to let any child just walk underground to get lost in a never ending tunnels, especially not one they had accepted as a little brother.

"Me an' El-dan, an' 'Ro-er, ans Glorfy's pet roll, comes to meet Mirkwoody pwince. You know?"

"Do I know the prince? Yes I know him quite well, but what does that have to do with this?" Legolas gestured at their surrounding with his free hand. They could save the revelation of his true identity for a later time. It was good to hear that there was a contingent of warriors searching for them, however. Maybe they had a chance of being rescued… Legolas quickly squashed the notion before he could jinx it and turned his attention back to the child's story.

"I chase buterflee, an' it flees here. Then got lost." Estel looked sad for a moment, before curiosity got the better of _him_.

"How you get here?"

"I… I, well, I got lost, and thought to seek some shelter for the night." Legolas was a horrible liar.

"It not night yet."

"I suspect that you have been in here for quite some time, titthen pen. By the time I arrived, It was indeed night."

"Kay."

It had been almost an hour before Legolas' keen ears were able to detect the gutteral sound of orc voices. The orcs had followed them in! Legolas cursed loudly in dwarvish. Estel cocked his head upon hearing the strange language.

"What that?" he asked.

"Dwarvish." Legolas replied absent mindedly, still listening for the orcs. He sighed in relief, and returned his attention to the boy beside him.

"Dwaf!" Estel exclaimed happily, and began to repeat the vulgarities that Legolas had uttered.

"No Estel!" Legolas exclaimed in alarm. "Those are _very_ bad words!"

"Then why you say." Estel queried, confused.

"I.." Legolas wracked his brain for a suitable answer "I hit my toe on a stone. But the point is, those are very bad words that I should have said, an neither should you."

Estel appeared to be pondering something.

"You Ada be mad?" Solemn gray-blue eyes looked concerned at the prospect.

"Yes, most likely he would be, tithen pen." Angrier that his son had used the language of the 'Stunted ones' than the fact he had sworn.

Estel stopped and turned to face him.

"Le'las time out." Estel commanded, pointing an authoritative finger to a secluded nook of the cave, where, Legolas assumed, he was to serve his 'time-out'.

"What?!" Legolas exclaimed. The orcs were probably still in the tunnels somewhere, and besides, the thought of a mere toddler punishing him for swearing was preposterous! "Estel I do not believe that is such a wise id…"

"Le'las say bad words, Le'las time out." Estel explained patiently, putting his hands on his hips and raising one eyebrow in an uncanny imitation of Lord Elrond.

Legolas weighed his options. On one hand, they needed to find their way out quickly, but on the other, Legolas had only heard the foul creatures once, and very briefly. And the child was _glaring_ at him.

Legolas sighed. "Very well, Estel." And went to sit in an invisible corner of an orc-infested cave for a time-out doled out to him by a three year old.

OoOoO

_85 years Later_

"And we have been friends ever since." Legolas finished.

"You taught Aragorn swear words?" Merry asked, shocked.

"Can I hear them?" Pippin asked excitedly.

"Most certainly not Peregrin Took!" Gandalf said sternly.

And they fellowship laughed, and ate together, and admired the stars in the now clear sky.

End.

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**Isn't it pathetic that the chapter containing the story is shorted than the chapter building up to it? Anyway feel free to rant about it in a review. I'm so shamless. Anyway, thank you for subjecting yourself to my madness.**


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